The End, and the Beginning
by cotton7204
Summary: Two friends are eating pizza after a long day at the gym, they think that they will go home afterwards and just enjoy a good nights sleep. But this is not to be, as they find themselves in the midst of the beginning of the end of humanity.


Staring at his blinking computer screen, Matt Jesse was counting the seconds down until he got off from this hell on earth called work. With one of the most uncaring, aggravated looks that a human could possibly produce on his face, he was beginning to think that taking this desk job at his father's law firm was a very bad idea. His father, Greg Jesse, owned one of the largest law firms in Grant, Maryland. Grant was a medium sized up and coming city out on the coast, only a few hours' drive from Baltimore.

With the clock on his computer finally reaching the coveted 5 o'clock, Matt hurriedly went to clock out, grabbing his coat and the rest of his coffee on the way out. He needed to get to the local Gold's Gym by at least 5:30 if he wanted to get a decent work out in before he went home. Matt's major hobby in life was bodybuilding. He loved lifting weights, loved building muscle, and loved the looks of awe from the guys and the looks of lust from the girls that his 6' 4" 285 pound, rock hard frame got him. That was the main reason he did it, though he always had dreams of becoming a professional bodybuilder and maybe compete in the Mr. Olympia competition like ole Arnold Schwarzenegger. Another added plus was that it irked his father to no end. He chuckled at that thought as he made his was way down to the parking garage and started up his blue for mustang that he had just bought around 2 months ago when he moved back.

His father wanted him to go to college to become a lawyer and join the family business with him, but Matt had no interest in that profession at all, disappointing his father greatly. Matt instead skipped college completely, taking a job with a construction crew out of Baltimore at the age of 18, trying to prove that he could make it on his own, and didn't need his father's stern guidance anymore to live. And he did for 8 years, buying a nice apartment, even had a fiancé for a while, everything was going good. He had enough money, a hot girl, life was great. Until the company he had poured his more blood sweat and tears into than he cared to admit, laid him off without as much as a single explanation as to why they did so. So here he was, in Baltimore, with rent on his apartment piling up, his fiancé growing more agitated with him every day, and no way to get a job. He had no college education, no other construction company would hire him, and that confused the mortal hell out of him, and there was no way he could live off of working at a fast food place. In no time at all he lost his apartment, his girl, and his self respect. He was forced to crawl back to his father and beg for a place to stay and for a job. His father was more than happy to oblige, always with this smug satisfied look on his face.

Matt pulled into the half full parking lot in a worse mood than he started out the drive in. Thinking about his life over the past decade made him want to beat the hell out of something. Luckily he could take his frustrations out with some serious lifting. Parking and turning off the car, he grabbed his bag out of the backseat and walked into the only sanctuary he had left in this crappy world. After signing in and flirting with the cute little blonde behind the desk he went back into the men's locker room to change and get ready. Stripping down to his plaid boxers, he looked at his reflection as he flexed in the mirror.

"Need to work on my lower back and my triceps, there looking a little less formed as usual." He said to himself. Matt had the body of Greek god, 20 inch arms, legs the size of small tree trunks, abs he could crack a walnut with, and the blonde hair and blue eyes added to the look to make him a rather handsome guy. Putting his gym shorts on, he mixed up his protein shake and struggled to drink it. It tasted like pure shit, but it did the trick. Making sure that he was alone in the locker room he pulled out his secret weapon. Anabolic steroids. Taking out his sterilized syringe filling it up with his usual amount, he tied off his arm and stuck the needle in his arm. He could feel it already, giving him a little extra surge, amplifying the anger he felt earlier, giving him the urge to go work out for several hours. And that's what he did. Every day was like this, working a crappy desk job organizing paperwork at the law firm at 8: 00 A.M. , then taking steroids and working out, finally going to sleep around 11 or 12. This was his routine for nearly 6 months.

6 months later at Gold's Gym, 8:30 P.M……

"Push it Matt…come on you pussy! Only a few more!" Matt's lifting partner and new found friend Josh McGregor.

Grunting with every ounce of strength he could muster, Matt finished his last rep of bench press. He had finally surpassed the 600 pound mark. He couldn't have been in a better mood. Every month he had gotten bigger and stronger. He got up off the bench with Josh smacking him on the back hard as he could and congratulating him. Josh wasn't nearly as big as Matt, being only 5' 8" and 235 pounds, but he was as strong as an ox, a perfect lifting partner.

"That's what I'm talking about man! You kicked its ass bro!" Josh yelled loudly.

Matt laughed hard as he watched his best friend acting like a schoolboy. "Damn straight I did man, but I think I'm done for today. My joints are killing me, and that 600 just about broke my arms. I think I'm going to spoil myself today and go pig out at Pizza Hut. Want to join me man?" Matt asked him as they were walking towards the men's locker room. Matt's arm around Josh's shoulder.

"Hmm….yeah, sure why not, I don't get out enough as it is anyways." Josh said as he was changing out of his workout clothes. "Let me get washed up and I'll go with ya bro."

"Sounds good to me man, though I need to do the same I smell like an old gym bag." He laughed as they both entered separate shower stalls to clean themselves of 2 and half hours of working out hard. Both chatted in a friendly manner as the showered, and changed into their normal every day clothes. They decided that Josh would just follow Matt, since they lived on separate ends of the city and Josh didn't want to make Matt drive any more than he had too. They pulled up to the nearest Pizza Hut and went and sat down at one of the tables and ordered two large pepperoni and cheese pizza's, and talked with each other as they waited for their food to come out.

"Josh, I think I'm going to quit taking steroids. My joints are going downhill bad, and the whole roid rage thing is pretty well accurate. I was at work a few days ago, and my computer got really slow, nothing to bad, but for some reason it pissed me off so bad that I actually took the keyboard and beat the hell out of it, broke everything on my desk. Freaked out everyone in the office, dad yelled like a drill sergeant at me for a half hour. To be honest, it sorta scared the fuck out of me too. Just for some little thing like that I went ballistic and beat the fuck out of my desk. I'm actually afraid of what I'll do when I snap on someone. It won't be pretty, so that's why I'm gonna try and quit taking the stuff. It sure as hell helped me, but it's starting to wear me down. You know what I'm trying to say man?" Matt asked him. They both used steroids so they were comfortable talking about them.

"I know where you're coming from man, I really do. It does have its bad effects, it's done a number on me, that's what made me lose my wife a few years ago. But I just said fuck it. I'll only live once, so I'll just do what I want to do. I'm just telling you, to do what you think is best for ya man, you're probably the only friend I give a shit about anymore. So I want the best for ya. This is your decision man, so what you say I'll go with." Josh told him with a gentle look on his face as he stared out the window, glimpses of the past going throughout his mind.

"Thanks man, I appreciate that a whole lot. I know it'll be hard as hell, but I've done harder shit." Matt said with a little grin to go along with it. Right about then the waitress came in with their pizza. Matt was in such a good mood that he gave the cute little red head a gentle slap on the butt and a $20 dollar tip. She blushed and half ran out of the room.

To the people able to see Matt and Josh eat their pizza, it was like watching a rhino and an elephant eating in a delirious frenzy. They devoured their pizza's in a rather short amount of time, leaving them to sit there rubbing their stomachs in delight. They ordered a cup of coffee and just sat there for a while sipping on coffee and just relaxing.

"So, Matt, who's going to win the super bowl this year?" Josh asked him while he took a small drink of this coffee.

"Well, I'm a Redskins fan till the day I die, but even with Clinton Portis, I don't think they'll do so good this year, I've just got a feeling or something about it, ya know? Though I'm probably going to have to go with the Patriots, they're just too damn good." Matt said as he flexed his numb, tired arms, trying to get some blood flow back into them.

"I think im going to have to agree with you on that one bro. Don't think anyone can beat those 'em. Sad thing is, I'm a Flacons fan." Josh chuckled. "They couldn't beat their way out of a wet paper ba…….g? What the hell?." He asked with a bewildered look on his face. Matt looked back over his shoulder out the window where josh was looking.

It appeared as if half of the police and S.W.A.T. teams were coming down the street, pulling up to each building. Within seconds, three police cars and one S.W.A.T. van pulled up in the Pizza Hut parking lot.

"What the fuck are they doing here?" Matt asked Josh while he watched as the policemen and S.W.A.T. members climbed out of their vehicles and gathered in a circle and began to talk and draw their weapons.

"I don't know, but this can't be too good man. That's a shitload of firepower." Josh said while watching the scene unfold.

The group of about 10 law enforcement officers apparently decided to do something, and headed into the restaurant. The lead person seemed to be a middle aged police officer with a slight paunch around his waist. He motioned for the rest of them to come in and spread out.

"Alright folks, listen up." He addressed the 13 people in the restaurant. "My name is John Alexander, and I have orders from the Mayor to evacuate the city, so, if you would please quietly and quickly come with me, we will begin evacuating you to a safe facility outside of the city." He said as the rest of the force began to quickly gather up the people, though some weren't so quiet on their way out, the employees went quietly, almost like sheep. Josh was not one of these, he was more vocal on his objections.

"Why the fuck are we being evacuated for? I don't see anything going on outside? Hey don't fucking touch me man!" Josh said as he easily pushed two S.W.A.T. members off of him.

"Sir, please calm down, there is a very contagious form of rabies being spread throughout the city, it somehow jumps from human to human, so as a precaution, we are evacuating the city to a safer location. Now, if you would please come with us, we will take you to safety." The man said while he backed away giving the tow behemoths before him some space.

"What do you think Matt? Should we trust them? I mean, come on! Fucking rabies? You've got to be shitting me. I haven't seen a damned thing all day long." Josh said in an increasing tone of voice.

Matt could see Josh was getting upset, hell, he was even worried about this, it must be pretty serious if they were evacuating the city. "Come on Josh, let's just go with 'em and see what happens alright?" he said to Josh as he put his hand on his shoulder, trying to calm his friend.

With a resigned sigh, Josh nodded his agreement. "Alright, whatever ya say man, but first sign of any shit, and I'm taking shit into my own hands." He said as they walked with the two S.W.A.T. members outside. The rest of the people were either in police cars or in the van, that's where Matt and Josh were lead.

"Alright sir, that's all from this building, the rest of the group are finishing up as we speak, so we'll be able to be on the move in no time." A short blonde police man told what appeared to be the leader, the middle aged man with the paunch.

As he was about to respond, a large explosion roared off in the distance, and a huge fireball rose into the sky. "Holy shit! That's where the truck stop is. This isn't good." The man said to himself, turning around he looked at young blonde man. "Alright, send out a message to rest of the group, hurry the hell up, get everyone out now, and lets get our ass out here before something like that comes our way." But before the man could respond, a man in a bloodied business suit came stumbling around the corner of the Pizza Hut. He was tall, skinny, with receding dark brown hair. He appeared to be a man in his mid twenties, but he didn't look good at all, his skin was pale gray, his eyes clouded over, and a large bite on his arm. He had blood dripping from his face down to his shirt, covering it in bright red liquid. The man had his arms held out towards them and was moaning.

"We've got an injured man here! Someone help me with him!" The short blonde officer said, and two S.W.A.T. members ran over to the staggering man with him. "Hey bud, you ok?" he asked as he came in front of him. "What's wrong man?" he asked, but the man grabbed his arm and pulled it up to try to bite it. "Shit! Get this asshole off of me!" he said as he struggled with subduing the man. One of the men grabbed him by the waist and drug him to the ground as the other man got him in a headlock.

"This guy is stronger than he looks." One of the men said as they struggled with the writhing figure underneath them. Then the man suddenly jerked his head down and bit hard into the forearm of the S.W.A.T. officer holding him. He screamed out in pain and tried to pull away from the man biting him, but only succeeded in having a larger chunk of flesh torn away. Standing up and cradling his now profusely bleed arm he screamed profanities, then turned around and started kicking the man in the ribs, audibly cracking several. He backed away and so did the other two who were staring at the man in disbelief.

"The fucker bit me! Why the fuck did he do that?" He said as another officer wrapped a towel around it to try to stem the blood flow. The man was back up again and staggering towards the stunned group of people, it not even paying attention to its cracked ribs. Everyone that was out of the safety of the vehicles began to back up.

"Stay where you are sir." John Alexander told him, with his pistol aimed at its chest. "Stay where you are, or I will shoot you." But it paid no heed to his warning, as it just keep slowly staggering towards him. " One last time man, stop or I will shot you!" It only got closer, so John closed his eyes, steadied himself, opened them again, and fired right at his chest, scoring a direct hit on the man's heart. The only effect it had on the man was to knock it back and almost toppled it over, but after a moment's pause and regained its balance and came on its inexorable course towards the men. Cursing very loudly, he fired several more shots at its chest and with the same results. "What the hell is this thing! I shot it 6 fucking times in the chest and it's still coming at me!" He said with doubt seeping out of his voice.

"Sir, Brad isn't doing too well. He's passed out and he's having trouble breathing." Another officer said as he kneeled over the unconscious man.

"Shit. Hold on Davis, I'll be right there." John said as he raised his gun one more time and fired his remaining rounds into various parts of the man's body, all doing nothing to stop the man. By now the man was within a dozen feet of the parked cars and the people within were started to scream and getting totally freaked out. John suddenly ran up to the man and kicked him hard in the chest and knocked the man flat out on his back, then ran to where the officer named brad was now convulsing.

"We need to call some paramedics up here now, I think the rabies thing is up here now." John said he tried to restrain the quivering officer.

"Well no fucking shit you ass." Matt said as he watched the whole thing unfold before him. While all this was going on, he and Josh had snuck behind them to Josh's car and got a baseball bat and a tire iron. "If you fuckers can't take care of it, Josh and I will, isn't that right buddy?" Matt asked Josh, who raised his baseball bat.

"You got that shit right bro. I told you at the first sign of shit I'd take this shit into my own hands. Alright, let's get that fuck." He said to matt and as one the rushed the now standing man and started to beat to mortal crap out of him with their weapons. They were both bigger than anyone their, so the man stood no chance. Matt got the killing blow in as he brought the tire iron down with all the force his massive arms could bring crashing down onto his head, caving in the entire right side of it, and effectively dropping the man like a sack of potatoes.

"See, that's how you take care of things boys." Matt laughed and Josh clapped him on the back joining in on the laughter. Then without so much as a sound, Brad, the convulsing man, stopped moving, then sat bolt upright and bit into the shoulder of another S.W.A.T. member, ripping off a hunk of muscle and cloth in his mouth.

"Josh! Take him out!" Matt yelled to him, and Josh sprung into action, running as hard as he could towards the man. Letting out a wild yell he swung the aluminum baseball bat like a golf club, knocking the man's jaw clean off of his face. Blood sprayed everywhere as Josh finished the job with one more swing, this time and overhead blow to the man's face, crushing it.

The police officers were just standing there in shock at what they had just witnessed, not truly comprehending what had just happened. Though their leader got his head cleared quickly.

"Alright guys, we got a mission to accomplish here, get in the cars and lets head out of the city. Bandage Kevin's arm and put him in the van." The officers mutely did as they were told. You could hear other screams and gunfire throughout the neighborhood. He turned towards Matt and Josh. "You two going to come with us, or just go your own way? He asked them

Discussing it amongst themselves, Matt spoke up. "Well, we'll go with you for now, since you can't seem to take care of yourselves. You might need a little protection, and plus we nothing better to do at the moment anyways. Might be fun." They both grinned as Matt said this.

John just smiled and shook his head, this matt guy was as big as bear, he just might be pretty useful, and the other one aint to shabby either. "Alright, you two can ride im my cruiser. Hop on in boys."

With that taken care of, the evacuation of Pizza hut was finished, the other people were scared to death, but well protected. Similar scenes as this one were unfolding throughout the city, smoke was pouring from various buildings, gunfire could be heard now in ever block, screams drifted through the air and blood flowed down the streets in torrents. This, was just the beginning of the end for Grant, Maryland, and the start of the story of Matt Jesse and Josh McGregor. Two muscle bound friends.


End file.
